AllOtsego Welcomes Reporter Joshua Youngquist to Its Newsroom

ONEONTA—AllOtsego is pleased to announce the hiring of Staff Writer Joshua Youngquist, effective June 1.

Youngquist joins AllOtsego after working with the OnNY Media Lab at SUNY Oneonta beginning in September 2025, where he gained hands-on newsroom experience and contributed reporting to AllOtsego as well as other regional publications, including “The Mountain Eagle.”

He graduated from SUNY Oneonta in May 2026, becoming a proud first‑generation college graduate.

“I’m eager and excited to officially join the AllOtsego team and become part of the community here,” Youngquist said. “My passion lies in talking to people, learning who they are, what their story is, and how I can help them share their voice.

“I especially love covering local news and politics, but I enjoy reporting across a wide variety of topics,” he added.

AllOtsego and its sister publications, “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta,” began working with the OnNY Media Lab and the SUNY Institute for Local News through SUNY Oneonta in October 2024.

“The Institute for Local News at SUNY,” according to officials, “engages students in university-led reporting programs with local media partners to bolster local news coverage while giving students real-world learning experiences in multi-media story-telling and communications.”

The initiative was developed in coordination with the national Center for Community News at the University of Vermont. SUNY Oneonta Communication and Media faculty member Dr. Andrew Bottomley, who serves on ILN’s Faculty Advisory Committee, is the program’s coordinator on the SUNY Oneonta campus.

“Working with Andrew and his team of student reporters has really been a boon to our newsroom,” said AllOtsego General Manager and Senior Editor Darla M. Youngs. “Joshua and his cohorts have done a wonderful job for us—both expanding and improving our coverage of Otsego County with their original reporting under Andrew’s leadership.”

Youngs said she is especially thrilled that the partnership with SUNY Oneonta has led to AllOtsego’s first hire of a senior graduating from the program.

“Joshua’s reporting has been excellent and he comes highly recommended by both Andrew and Gayane Torosyan, who will rejoin the SUNY Institute for Local News at SUNY Oneonta following a hiatus,” Youngs said. “We are thrilled to have Joshua on board and hope he is the first of many student reporters who will make the move to journalism as their profession.”

Originally from Huntington, New York, then moving to Rhinebeck, Youngquist grew up in a large family with six siblings and was raised by a single mother, an experience he credits with shaping his work ethic, empathy, and commitment to community‑centered journalism.

AllOtsego looks forward to Youngquist’s continued contributions as he begins covering local government, community issues and human‑interest stories across Otsego County.